Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Zubairu Dada
April 29, (THEWILL) – Nigeria on Thursday, clarified that her relations with Russia and Ukraine remain cordial, despite ongoing war between the two European countries.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Zubairu Dada, stated this in Abuja on Thursday, while fielding questions from newsmen at the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team.
He stressed that the on-going war between the two countries had not in any way affected Nigeria’s diplomatic ties with both Russia and Ukraine.
Also, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, said Nigeria had never contemplated breaking of diplomatic ties with Russia for invading Ukraine.
“Nigeria has not broken relations with Russia and there are several connections between Nigeria and Russia on many issues. Education is one. Nigeria is not at war with Russia.
“Russia remains a member of the UN Security Council and a member of the UN; it is a significant player in world politics.
“Who knows, next week there may be no problem between Russia and Ukraine and how do you start your relationship with Russia all over?
“It is a balancing act. It is not like we have reached a point where Russia is so evil that Nigeria should not even relate with it; should not eat food produced in Russia; or we cannot take gas because it is Russian-produced.
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“Balance is fundamental in diplomacy and Nigeria has been very clear in its view that the attack by Russia on Ukraine was unacceptable”, said Bande.
On the issue of Itunu Babalola, a Nigerian wrongfully jailed in Cote D’Ivoire and who died in prison, the minister said the Federal Government would not rest on its oars “until justice is served in the matter’’.
“I want us to understand that we are talking about another sovereign nation. The lady was taken to a regular court and the judge ruled that she was culpable of an offence and jailed her.
“The only recourse we had as a responsible nation was to go to the Appeal Court and that was what we did.
“We appealed against that judgement and it was in that process that this lady as took ill and died in custody.
“We have insisted that an autopsy be done on the corpse and we are also raising issues with the appropriate authorities where we are not fully satisfied to ensure that justice is done.
“Even in death, we are not leaving the matter to go. We cannot take the law into our hands in that country.
“Whether they jailed her rightly or wrongly, it is their law that was used, which we have to respect.
“Again, diplomacy is the only way to go and we are leaving no stone unturned and we have the tacit support of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Diaspora”, he said.
On the alleged maltreatment of Nigerian traders in Ghana, as well as the occasional xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, Dada said measures were being taken by the Federal Government to address the issues permanently.
“Starting with Ghana, I am aware that the Ministry of Trade and Investment in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have gone very far in this regard.
“We have visited Ghana not less than three times; they have also been here the same number of times and a lot of progress has been made.
“In the case of South Africa, there is no doubt in the fact that South Africa respects Nigeria tremendously.
“The action of some very few South Africans is not and should not be seen as a reflection of the position of the South African government and its people.
“I guess what is happening there is that there are some frustrated South Africans who believe that Nigerians are literally outshining them in their own land; Nigerian are literally outshining them in their own land; Nigerian businesses there are moving very fast.
“To tackle the problem, the two countries have established an early warning mechanism to monitor some of these crises so that we will not allow them to erupt before we manage them.
“All the security agencies in South Africa are on red alert to ensure that what happened in the past is not allowed to repeat itself and we are doing the same at this end”, Dada said
